{"id":"01KG6GMJF6XTMRZK3YKQM06W87","cid":"bafkreibxiuopslkkjobvi7ga2b43erh7qtc2fvmoadhp76shvsemg3dnsq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":551,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":484,"text":"                                   II\r\n\r\n\r\nThough our new-made foretopman was well received in the top and on the\r\ngun-decks, hardly here was he that cynosure he had previously been among\r\nthose minor ships’ companies of the merchant marine, with which\r\ncompanies only had he hitherto consorted.\r\n\r\nHe was young; and despite his all but fully developed frame, in aspect\r\nlooked even younger than he really was. This was owing to a lingering\r\nadolescent expression in the as yet smooth face, all but feminine in\r\npurity of natural complexion, but where, thanks to his sea-going, the\r\nlily was quite suppressed, and the rose had some ado visibly to flush\r\nthrough the tan.\r\n\r\nTo one essentially such a novice in the complexities of factitious life,\r\nthe abrupt transition from his former and simpler sphere to the ampler\r\nand more knowing world of a great warship--this might well have abashed\r\nhim had there been any conceit or vanity in his composition. Among her\r\nmiscellaneous multitude, the _Indomitable_ mustered several individuals\r\nwho, however inferior in grade, were of no common natural stamp, sailors\r\nmore signally susceptive of that air which continuous martial discipline\r\nand repeated presence in battle can in some degree impart even to the\r\naverage man. As the _Handsome Sailor_ Billy Budd’s position aboard the\r\nseventy-four was something analogous to that of a rustic beauty\r\ntransplanted from the provinces and brought into competition with the\r\nhigh-born dames of the court. But this change of circumstances he scarce\r\nnoted. As little did he observe that something about him provoked an\r\nambiguous smile in one or two harder faces among the blue-jackets. Nor\r\nless unaware was he of the peculiar favourable effect his person and\r\ndemeanour had upon the more intelligent gentlemen of the quarter-deck.\r\nNor could this well have been otherwise. Cast in a mould peculiar to the\r\nfinest physical examples of those Englishmen in whom the Saxon strain\r\nwould seem not at all to partake of any Norman or other admixture, he\r\nshowed in face that humane look of reposeful good-nature which the Greek\r\nsculptor in some instances gave to his heroic strong man, Hercules. But\r\nthis again was subtly modified by another and pervasive quality. The\r\near, small and shapely, the arch of the foot, the curve in mouth and\r\nnostril, even the indurated hand dyed to the orange-tawny of the\r\ntoucan’s bill, a hand telling of the halyards and tar-buckets; but,\r\nabove all, something in the mobile expression, and every chance attitude\r\nand movement, something suggestive of a mother eminently favoured by\r\nLove and the Graces; all this strangely indicated a lineage in direct\r\ncontradiction to his lot. The mysteriousness here, became less\r\nmysterious through a matter of fact elicited when Billy at the capstan\r\nwas being formally mustered into the service. Asked by the officer, a\r\nsmall, brisk little gentleman as it chanced, among other questions, his\r\nplace of birth, he replied, ‘Please, sir, I don’t know.’\r\n\r\n‘Don’t know where you were born? Who was your father?’\r\n\r\n‘God knows, sir.’\r\n\r\nStruck by the straightforward simplicity of these replies, the officer\r\nnext asked, ‘Do you know anything about your beginning?’\r\n\r\n‘No, sir. But I have heard that I was found in a pretty silk-lined\r\nbasket hanging one morning from the knocker of a good man’s door in\r\nBristol.’\r\n\r\n‘_Found_, say you? Well,’ throwing back his head, and looking up and\r\ndown the new recruit--‘well, it turns out to have been a pretty good\r\nfind. Hope they’ll find some more like you, my man; the fleet sadly\r\nneeds them.’\r\n\r\nYes, Billy Budd was a foundling, a presumable by-blow, and, evidently,\r\nno ignoble one. Noble descent was as evident in him as in a blood horse.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK7XJNDPHXHRPR887TXSZ","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMJF9F9MET64N3Y75YTRJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:04.038Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:13.178Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}